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She nodded in response to Steve’s question. “Something like that, yes. I believe this offender has never struck at random, at all. And the one thing his victims may have in common is something in their history that the UNSUB finds unforgiveable. Perhaps something the victim was never suspected ofdoing.”
“If we get a positive ID,” Ethan said, “I want the three of you to split up the duties of notifying next-of-kin, obtaining necessary warrants and going through the victim’s home and car. Check with DMV for his vehicle plates and search campgrounds near Fundy National Park, see if we can find his car. Talk to friends, neighbors, colleagues…I want to know everything about this guy. Text me regular updates. If the ID isn’t a match, I’m going to want a sketch of our John Doe to use at the next news conference.” They’d held off doing that until now out of consideration for the deceased’s family members. “Someone knows thisguy.”
He glanced down at the agenda he’d put together. “We’ve identified the victim found in Nova Scotia as Felix Simard.” He summarized the man’s criminal past and the rumors about his involvement in the snuff movie industry. “Alexa believes changing the manner of death for this victim signifies his personal importance to the UNSUB. Our next task is developing a timeline of the events leading up to his death. The travel manifests have arrived for Nova Scotia New Brunswick. We’ll be trying to find Simard’s date of entry here, and also comparing passenger names for anyone who traveled to both provinces within the relevant window oftime.”
“I’ll take our tasks today over yours, anytime.” The two older officers nodded at Steve’sremark.
Captain Campbell put in, “Seems like that’s a chore that could be parceled out to local law enforcement departments,Sergeant.”
“Believe me, I plan to hand it off to them as soon as possible,” Ethan replied. “Just as soon as we look check the lists for Simard.” He glanced down at his agenda. They’d hit the bullet points. Looking up, he said, “That’s all I have for today. Anyquestions?”
Steve Friedrich waggled his fingers. “Just trying to wrap my head around this. Everything I’ve ever heard says serial offenders don’t change their ritual. Their MO, yeah, evolves when it suits their need. But not their signature. Dr. Hayden seems to be saying just theopposite.”
Alexa moved back into the screen. “What you’re saying is correct, as far as it goes. Simard is an outlier because he was killed in a different manner. Maybe he and the offender had a relationship. Perhaps Simard’s suspected occupation is a hot-button issue for the UNSUB. We’re not going to know the answer to that until we get closer to the killer. However, the torture of the last three victims serves the offender’s purpose, just as the addition of the second insect does. He wants us to know why they werechosen.”
When she sat back, Ethan added, “I don’t have to tell you that the clock is ticking. Either the UNSUB is finished and already on his way out of the area, or he’s lingering to strike again.” Five years ago, such a thought wouldn’t have occurred. But that was before the offender went after multiple victims in a short period of time. “Either way, he has to be stopped.” The expressions on the screen went grim. Because unspoken was the knowledge that had the last task force captured the UNSUB, another three lives would have beensaved.
The briefing concluded, Alexa and Nyle gathered up their things while Ethan closed out of the group video window and took a moment to check the emails that had come in during the meeting. “Simard’s financials,” he said over his shoulder, a zip of excitement shooting up hisspine.
Nyle came over to peer at his screen. “This just might save everyone a bunch oftrouble.”
“He’d have needed a credit card to reserve his room,” Ethan muttered as he clicked on the copy of the most recent statement. But a quick scan of the transactions showed no travel or hotel arrangements. A search of the previous two months’ statements was similarlyfruitless.
“No credit cards in the aliases we were given?” Disappointment tinged Nyle’swords.
“Apparently not.” Which might well mean that Simard no longer used those aliases. “Still ways a person can use cash for an airline ticket, though.” He clicked out of the statement and opened up the bank statement. He scrolled down rapidly, seeing frequent use of a debit card, but no transactions for travel arrangements. The account seemed to be mainly used for routine householdpayments.
Ethan went back and read through the email the forensic accountant had sent. “He almost certainly has another account. They’re looking for a bitcoin wallet or something overseas.” He’d reach out to the RCMP Montreal detachment for officers to dig into Simard’s occupation and property holdings. If he was still in the porn business, he’d need a place to film. “Unless we’re to believe he’s left his more unsavory pastimes behind him, he’s got some place he’s conducting his business. In another name, probably and maybe he pays cash for thoseexpenses.”
“Or has an alias we know nothing about,” Nyle saidgloomily.
“Simard’s selection as a victim likely means he continued that activity, or something similar,” Alexa put in. “That’s what the second insect sample left with him tellsus.”
Ethan nodded slowly. He’d delve further into Simard’s financials later, looking for a possible link to the man’s killer, but right now they were useless when it came to tracing Simard’s finalsteps.
Nyle pursed his lips and, eyeing the last two doughnuts, picked up the box to carry to the car with him. “Guess that would have been too easy. We’ll continue doing it the hard way. Wading through the leads that come in on the tip line from areamotels.”
Ethan had a half-dozen police officers running down those leads, but nothing had panned out yet. Maybe their lack of success meant Simard had been staying with a friend, or had been killed before he’d even checked into ahotel.
They were on the road heading to the dumpsite before Alexa spoke. “Do you think his hotel room could be the crime scene?” He shifted to look at her in the back seat, noting Nyle’s stealthy move toward a second doughnut as the mandrove.
“I doubt it. Too many people around. We’ve never found the crime scene in any of the other cases, although we’ve discovered a couple of the abduction sites—both alleyways, where traces of the victims’ blood turned up. Which means the UNSUB had a lair close by, or, more likely, a vehicle to transport them to one. Given the autopsy results, maybe Simard was taken close to wherever he ate his last meal. Or near a bar where he’dstopped.”
“That would make the offender highly adaptable, wouldn’t it?” He raised a brow and waited for her to go on. “It’d be much easier to plan the abduction from a place he could scout ahead of time. But he’d have to react quickly if he’s snatching them whenever he gets the opportunity.” She frowned slightly before going on. “He stalks them. Physically, of course, prior to abduction, but almost definitely online, at first. We can discard the notion that the victims were chosen at random. This UNSUB seems to know too much about them, and we give up much more privacy than we intend to online. People tend to reveal themselves when they believe they’reanonymous.”
That was especially true of the darkest corners of the web, Alexa thought, where there were forums and chatrooms for every type of paraphilia. “I think we’re looking at a killer with better than average technology skills. The victims may well be selected based on what he learns about them online. Then he learns their habits, where they go, what they do. Arming himself with that information gives him an advantage. He chooses the time and place of theabduction.”
“So his motivation is to punish them? People he doesn’t even know?” Nyle took a bite of hispastry.
“There’s more to his motivation than that, I expect.” There was a note of weariness in Alexa’s answer. “There always is. And it makes sense only to thekiller.”
Minutes later Nyle slowed to pull over at the side of the road. “I hate to get too far off the road. Ground’s still prettysoggy.”
Ethan hadn’t yet seen the dumpsite in the daylight, and took a moment to take in the scene. A gauzy morning fog was lifting off the Shubenacadie River below. The weatherman had forecast an extended break from the rain, but as they got out of the vehicle, the air felt damp. Not for the first time, Ethan wondered why this spot had been chosen. A bird’s eye map of the river showed mostly flat land adjacent to it for miles, punctuated with stands of thickly wooded areas. There were far fewer steep embankments in this area along the river. Why would the offender choose the most difficult terrain to get to the river? Maybe that meant he’d used a boat. A canoe or flat bottomed fishing skiff would work. And it could have launched from anywhereupriver.
He tried—and failed—to imagine the UNSUB wrestling a body into a boat. But then, there was very little about the offender’s actions that made sense to him. One of the things that had made Ethan a success in IHIT was his ability to put himself in the killer’s mindset. This one, though, was in a category of hisown.
He led the way, scanning for an easier place to descend than the way he and Nyle had found a couple nights ago. A moment later, that thought was wiped from his mind when his gaze settled on the sightbelow.